So you want to court a donor . . .
Let’s talk about finding true love. No, not the Disney movie or Nicholas Sparks novel kind of true love. I don’t want you to strive for what you read in books where the cover is two devastatingly gorgeous people almost kissing.
I’m talking about thinking of the perfect person, the one who will complete you. The one you have been waiting for. The one who makes your dreams come true.
I’m talking about the perfect donor.
Some of you have a vivid mental image of them. Some of you know them so well, you close your eyes and can see the color of their eyes. The rest of us, though, close our eyes and see Danny Dinero—a dollar sign with legs and cartoon eyes. But chasing after an anthropomorphized dollar is not fair to either you or your donors. They might make more in a year than we’ve made our entire lives but that doesn’t mean we get to see them as just bags of money.
The first step in discovering the perfect donor for your organization is changing your own mindset. Remember: they are people too. They have a home, family, gripes at the Thanksgiving dinner table, and plans for Mother’s Day, just like the rest of us. Their plans might involve brunch at the country club, but they will still have screechy, moody small children in tow. Set your sights on making a friend, not a sale.
Put yourself in their shoes for a moment. Pretend that you have so much money you are inclined to give outrageous amounts of it away. Since everyone’s information is readily available on the internet, development professionals are narrowing in on you. Imagine getting constant phone calls, letters, and emails from strangers asking for money. Wouldn’t you feel put out? Commodified? Almost as if you were being systematically hunted? The only people I’ve ever freely given money to are my friends. I imagine the same is true for you.
Don’t treat your donors like prey; treat them like friends. Remember, people love to talk about themselves. Take advantage of this by noting facts about them and preparing follow-up questions to ask at your next meeting. Making friends is a lot easier than we think it is. At least in my experience, people love to hear commendation for who they are and what they do. If you’re going to be successful in dating and searching for love, you need to show genuine enjoyment and interest in that person. The same goes for courting your donors.
The next step in your courtship is to find people who have full wallets that are also open. As we’ve mentioned before, you can’t force someone to do something they don’t want to—or can’t—do. A little internet sleuthing goes a long way to figuring out who’s ready to give. Some research can save you time and the embarrassment of pitching a great cause to a donor who has no history of giving to organizations like yours.
There are several resources you can use in your Sherlock snooping. If you are looking for a foundation, helpful websites include FoundationDirectory.com and Grantmakers.io. When looking for individuals and their contact information, you’ve got to climb over some pay walls. DonorSearch and iWave are both great resources if their price points works for your budget.
Once you have some prospects who look good, either foundations or individuals, the next step is a face-to-face meeting. You can call, email, or send a letter, depending on the personality of your organization. For a foundation, you want to pursue a meeting with a staff member or someone else listed on their 990, which is also where their phone number and address are conveniently printed. The goal is a meeting with a real person to make a real, human connection with.
After that, you are still a handful of months away from a major gift. Typically, the process of winning someone over from stranger to supporter can take anywhere from 12 to 18 months. Winning a first gift takes time, time spent talking, meeting up for coffee, chatting over drinks. We live in a society that trades in two currencies: money and connection. You get connection by getting someone’s attention. This doesn’t mean you have to have the most amazing graphic designers in the word or the greatest wordsmiths creating your copy. It means you need to be different from all the other nonprofits who forgo connection and see a prospective donor as just a human-shaped ATM.
Be different.
Be a connector.
Go find a donor who loves your organization. And love that donor back.
